Quiet Us with Your Love

 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for [it is] nigh at hand... Joel 2:1

Do you feel worrisome about the latest news reports? The headlines grow harder and harder to bear.

Just less than a week ago was the eclipse and now a storm bears down in the sourthwest that may end up being worse than Katrina. Every day it seems our country implodes just a little bit more.

I am confused by what's all around me, yet the answer I need to these very problems were written thousands of years ago. 

 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3: 5-6

Somehow God knew all of this craziness was going to happen, in this generation since the re-establishment of the nation of Israel. It seems the key to really get the end times ball rolling was May, 14, 1948.  Suddenly we are almost 70 years from that day. And everything is flying out of control.

 I flounder in a confusing sea of information when listening to the news updates. Everyone has their opinion, experts abound. But stability does not come from the plethora of advice I  find from the world.

Only one thing is sure: God's Word and His promises to all of us, His undeserving children. I may understand just a tiny bit, but one day it all will be made clear. So each day I try to read and record verses impressed on me.

Today, one of the verses I read and recorded was Zephaniah chapter 3:1-2.  I thought about my own reaction to the times we live in:

 Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city!  She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she does not draw near to her God. Zeph. 3: 1-2

 Am I listening and attentive to the warning knocks the Lord is sending to this country? I've lived in a time of unbroken prosperity, but that could all change in a moment.

Yesterday I was deprived of my morning coffee so that I could undergo a small procedure at the hospital early in the afternoon. The world could have ended that I didn't get my morning cup of joe. I felt awful without it. Then, I thought what if the electricity went out permanently? No more dark roast for me! This verse from Jeremiah came to mind:

 "If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?  Jeremiah 12: 5

 Here I am again, Lord. Please keep me and my loved ones safe through spiritual and physical storms. One of my children and his precious family live in the path of Harvey, so this storm weighs heavy on my mind and heart. Still, God speaks words of reassurance:

 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zeph. 3: 17

 Dear God quiet this storm by Your love, exult over Your people that lie in its path with Your singing. And may we, the sheep of Your pasture, remember that if You, Lord, did the most in saving us through means of the cross, than You, God, also will meet every other need until You bring us safely home.

  He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Song of Solomon 2:4